The former armorer for Rust — charged with involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of the movie’s cinematographer on the set — is looking at a new charge of evidence tampering for allegedly offering narcotics to escape prosecution.

The special prosecutors overseeing the case alleged on Thursday in a Santa Fe County court filing that Hannah Gutierrez-Reed “did transfer narcotics to another person with the intent to prevent the apprehension, prosecution or conviction of herself.” Further details weren’t disclosed.

The charge was filed after the lead investigator into the shooting was abruptly kicked off the case, sparking allegations that the prosecution is hiding evidence.

“The current special prosecutor has directed that I conduct no further investigation into this matter,” Robert Schilling, the investigator, wrote in an email sent Tuesday to Santa Fe County District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies. “The conduct of the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office during and after their initial investigation is reprehensible and unprofessional to a degree I still have no words for. Not I or 200 more proficient investigators than I can/could clean up the mess delivered to your office in October 2022.”

Schilling allegedly said that he couldn’t elaborate on the message because he’s bound by a nondisclosure agreement, according to a court document filed on Thursday by Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyer Jason Bowles. The investigator wrote the statement of probable cause supporting the charges against Gutierrez-Reed. Bowles was inadvertently copied onto the email that Schilling sent. In a statement, he said that the new charge was “done in retaliatory fashion” for raising arguments that the prosecution is hiding evidence that may help vindicate his client by directing Schilling not to further investigate the shooting.

“It is shocking that after 20 months of investigation, the special prosecutor now throws in a completely new charge against Ms. Gutierrez Reed, with no prior notice or any indication of any witness statements to support it,” he added. “This comes on the heels of the state letting its lead investigator go, and the investigator raising serious concerns about the investigation in an email.”

Last week, prosecutors claimed that Gutierrez-Reed was “drinking heavily and smoking marijuana” in the evening during the filming of Rust and was likely hungover when she loaded the gun that discharged with a live round.

Gutierrez-Reed, responsible for supervision of weapons for the Rust production, is currently the only person facing charges for the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. In April, prosecutors dropped involuntary manslaughter charges against Baldwin after disclosing that they are investigating the possibility that the gun the actor was holding may have been modified to fire without a pull of the trigger, though they may be refiled. The move was the latest setback in the case riddled with complications. Andrea Reeb, the special prosecutor originally appointed to oversee criminal charges over the shooting, was forced to step down in March due to a conflict of interest with her elected position in the New Mexico House of Representatives. Carmack-Altwies, who named Reeb to the case, excused herself from all matters related to the prosecution. They made the decision to charge Baldwin with violating a recently amended firearm enhancement statute that didn’t exist at the time of the incident, which was later dropped.

In the filing on Thursday, Bowles moved for a judge to allow him to interview Schilling, who’s listed as a witness for a preliminary hearing in August that will determine whether charges proceed against Gutierrez-Reed. He accused special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis of trying to suppress evidence.

“But for the fortuitousness of this ‘inadvertent’ send, defense counsel would likely have never known about Shilling’s information and extremely negative views on the investigation,” he wrote. “Ms. Gutierrez Reed has an expert witness regarding the severe problems in the investigation. The fact that the State’s lead investigator shares those views, or some of those views, is highly exculpatory.”

The special prosecutors and sheriff’s office didn’t respond to requests for comment.

In May, Gutierrez-Reed moved to dismiss involuntary manslaughter charges faulting her for Hutchins’ death. She argued that prosecutors tainted the investigation, didn’t have the authority to bring charges and that her due process rights were violated, stressing the “improper political motives” of Carmack-Altwies and Reeb. Other alleged lapses in the investigation include the sheriff’s office deciding not to seek DNA testing of the live rounds found on set and prop master Sarah Zachry admitting to investigators that she disposed of the rounds in actor Jensen Ackles’ gun to hide evidence since she loaded his weapon, according to the filing. Those rounds were not recovered.

Gutierrez-Reed also took issue with Federal Bureau of Investigation’s destruction of the sear, part of the trigger mechanism that holds the hammer on a gun, on the revolver Baldwin was holding. Prosecutors authorized testing on the firearm despite being told that it might result in it being permanently damaged.